ShootMania Storm will offer two modes for free

Nadeo's TrackMania games traditionally ran under a free-to-play model of sorts but TrackMania 2 Canyon shook that up by simply charging a cover price, and it seemed ShootMania Storm would too. Not so. Nadeo's first FPS will in fact return to the old way, publisher Ubisoft announced today, and offer two of its many modes for free.

Nadeo's TrackMania games have traditionally ran under a free-to-play model of sorts, but TrackMania 2 Canyon shook that up by charging a cover price. It seemed ShootMania Storm would too. But, not so. Nadeo's first FPS will, in fact, return to the classic monetization model, publisher Ubisoft announced today.

Two modes will be made available for free: the Elite and Royal modes. Elite is a 3v3 team mode played in rounds of 3v1, where one player has a railgun and their three foes are armed with rocket launchers. Royal is a free-for-all deathmatch mode with maps built around one central control point, which triggers a crushing dome of death to move in and kill everyone in its wake.

This is all part of a plan to make ShootMania big on the competitive gaming scene.

To play all the other modes, you'll need to buy the full game. It'll cost $20 but you can pre-order now for $15.99, or cheaper in multi-packs. Pre-ordering also gets you into the beta test.